Wisconsin native, conservative critic of everything.
"Liberalism is the modern and morbid habit of always sacrificing the normal to the abnormal" --G K Chesterton
"Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God." ---G K Chesterton
"The only objective of Liberty is Life" --G K Chesterton
"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions" --G K Chesterton
"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition." -- Rudyard Kipling

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Test Case for Wisconsin Law?

When DMC Pharmacy opens this summer on Route 50 in Chantilly, the shelves will be stocked with allergy remedies, pain relievers, antiseptic ointments and almost everything else sold in any drugstore. But anyone who wants condoms, birth control pills or the Plan B emergency contraceptive will be turned away.That's because the drugstore, located in a typical shopping plaza featuring a Ruby Tuesday, a Papa John's and a Kmart, will be a "pro-life pharmacy" -- meaning, among other things, that it will eschew all contraceptives.

That sound you hear is the Harpies screeching.

"I'm very, very troubled by this," said Marcia Greenberger of the National Women's Law Center, a Washington advocacy group. "Contraception is essential for women's health. A pharmacy like this is walling off an essential part of health care. That could endanger women's health."

Yah, well, Marcia...I suspect that you can find a Walgreen's. They have big letters on their signs, so you can read them more easily.

California, New Jersey, Illinois and Washington state recently began requiring pharmacies to fill all prescriptions or help women fill them elsewhere, and at least another 10 states are considering such requirements. But some states exempt pharmacies that do not generally stock contraceptives, and it is unclear how other existing rules and laws and those being considered would apply to those pharmacies.

"These are uncharted waters, since the issue of so-called pro-life pharmacies are so new," said Elizabeth Nash, a public policy associate at the Guttmacher Institute, a private, nonprofit organization that researches reproductive issues.

Umnnnhh...do you suppose that the reporter-ette forgot that Guttmacher is a wholly-owned subsidiary (in fact or in practice) of Planned Barrenhood Parenthood?

Back to the Harpies:

"Rape victims could end up in a pharmacy not understanding this pharmacy will not meet their needs," Greenberger said. "We've seen an alarming development of pharmacists over the last several years refusing to fill prescriptions, and sometimes even taking the prescription from the woman and refusing to give it back to her so she can fill it in another pharmacy."

Oh, the humanity! Tell me that the extra 4 minutes required to get to Walgreen's.....ah, never mind.

Think it won't be an issue if one opens in Wisconsin? Think again:

Semler, at DMC Pharmacy, said he does not feel that will be an impediment."We just say there are other pharmacies in the area they can go to," he said, noting that the Kmart across the parking lot has a pharmacy and that there are several other national chains nearby. "We're not threatening anybody. We're just trying to serve a niche market of like-minded individuals."But others worry about what will happen if such pharmacies proliferate, especially in rural areas."We may find ourselves with whole regions of the country where virtually every pharmacy follows these limiting, discriminatory policies and women are unable to access legal, physician-prescribed medications," said R. Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin lawyer and bioethicist. "We're talking about creating a separate universe of pharmacies that puts women at a disadvantage." Yah. Stick "-ethicist" into any title and voila!! that makes them morally superior, no?

11 comments:

Yup, the good thing about contraception is that it's between you and your partner. You could, for example, desire to not get pregnant and avoid accusations of hypocrisy by sneaking off to a pharmacy and picking up some contraception, still have sex as much as you like, and no one could ever accuse you of hypocrisy, because they can't peek into your bedroom (so far) and contraceptives are available over the counter (so far.)

There are implications - if not downright accusations - in your post. If they're directed at me, a backhanded smack against my decision to use NFP in accordance with my faith's correct teachings, way to prove yourself childish.

If I'm wrong, by all means, correct yourself and I'll apologize.

Why is it - on matters of smoking, eating, energy usage - liberals have no problem going into someone's home and telling them what they can/cannot do? No doubt, if a pharmacy had decided not to sell cigarettes or not stock "junk food" on its shelves, it would be applauded as a Good-for-You, Conscientious Business.

However, this pharmacy decided not to stock contraception - in accordance with the beliefs of the owners. In a free society, they would have every right to do so. Because that's what private businesses in free societies do: they create the business and sell the products they deem appropriate. If it's unpopular, the business won't receive patronage and fold. If it is popular, they'll be successful.

I can't tell you how many Walgreens, CVS, and other pharmacies are out there (including that eeeevilll Wal-Mart and Target).

So why is it one pharmacy (or even pharmacists) who still have values are always attacked by the Usual Suspects for daring not to embrace the culture of promiscuity and contraception? They realize that fertility is not a disease and pregnancy is not a fatal illness.

Who said I was talking about you, Amy? I thought my comment was rather general. You use Natural Family Planning, i.e., Wish-Based Contraceptives? Have we ever talked about that before? I do not recall. That's kind of private. It's not something I would bring up about my personal life, for example. If I thought some incorporeal entity had a deep interest in my procreation, well, I'd tell my wife she'd need to stay preggers as often as possible, just to keep said entity happy lest I get smote or something.

If you want to talk about it in public, how's that working out for you? How many little blessings do you have so far?

JIJARWM, sure, I'll buy that, but if we want to get all libertarian about it, a more important and freedom-filled right would be to allow any shop to sell emergency contraceptives as well as Heroin(TM). Instead, we're in a system where only government-licensed pharmacists can do that. There are already lots of pharmacies who do not carry Plan B. Deciding not to carry legal and commonly available drugs like ordinary birth control? Perhaps a stupid market decision on their part.

Perhaps. Which was my point. If it's unpopular, the market will decide by making the pharmacy not profitable and it'll close. Problem solved.

Who said I was talking about you, Amy?

Your comment could not be taken in any way other than a backhanded insult towards those of us who are Catholic. It's pretty common knowledge that it's Church teaching that contraception is a grave sin - and you're pretty familiar with the fact that I (as well as our blog host) are both practicing Catholics.

So if it didn't come up in discussion, your hinting that we don't want others to use contraception but secretly do ourselves is rather immature.

If you re-read my comment you'll see I gave you the opportunity to correct yourself. You didn't really, but seem rather defensive, so I guess I hit the nail on the head.

For the record, I have one child - 15 months old. Currently not expecting child #2. Actually dealt with some medical issues that might cause complications in future pregnancies so we don't know if there will even be a second biological child...

And if you'd do a little research, that "Wish-Based planning" (known as NFP to adults) is actually quite effective - on par with the pill and condom when used appropriately.

NFP has nothing to do with avoiding being "smote" by God. It has to do with living out the fullness of the vocation of marriage and God's design of mankind (which includes fertility, procreation and childbearing). It does not mean a woman has to be in a state of perpetual pregnancy, but open to the possibility of life. And - equally - it means her husband has to be prepared to provide for, love, and defend his family.

I'm fairly certain if I'm unable to have more kids, I won't be struck dead by lightning...

My original post was not aimed at you. I pointed out that because it is by nature a personal decision, we'll never know who is using contraception and who isn't. That's all. I didn't intend to imply that you were any more likely to be using contraception in secret. Do you think there are people out there who'd like to ban it, prevent its sale, etc. because of their religious beliefs?

What I think is that we need to do a better job of explaining why contraception - specifically the pill - is harmful. Not only to souls, but to women (and, a lesser extent, the environment). I - personally - don't want to ban it. But I'd like to see a willful reduction in its use. Especially among my fellow Catholics.

Pretty much every store I can think of that has a relatively decent pharmacy/medicine section has some form of contraception on sale. In a free market, that's their choice and I can choose whether or not to purchase it or shop there.

But if a business comes along that decides it doesn't want to carry contraception - that should be their choice.

If the free market was allowed to be truly "free", the liberal position would have been defeated long ago because, by definition, the free market concept is as conservative as you can get. That is why various liberal activists HAVE to fight against free market principles; i.e smoking in restaurants, availability of contraceptives, greenhouse gas emission limits, mandatory government controlled healthcare... the list goes on and on! If given a choice, the liberal position would always be defeated in a free market. And so we have to put up with them still....

I sincerely hope that all 5 of my "little blessing" will grow up to see the end of the liberal viewpoint in the public arena in the U.S. Maybe then we can have a "contraceptive free pharmacy" without endangering the lives of countless women, or so they say...